Today's Thought - March

[bluidkiti]

March 28

Forgiveness

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it foregoes revenge and dares forgive an injury.

~E.H. Chapin

Unless we can freely forgive others, we will never be able to forgive ourselves. The freedom to give ourselves a second (or third or fourth) chance to right a wrong or perform a helpful act opens the way to spiritual growth.

Unqualified forgiveness, both for others and for ourselves, keeps us from being overcome by guilt or shame over not being kind to ourselves and those around us. Forgiveness is a first step in making emotional progress; all succeeding steps become easier.

My sponsor told me to imagine climbing a beautiful hill and sitting in the sunlight, then to imagine my enemy climbing the same hill and sitting with me. Then I was to leave my enemy in the sunlight while I walked down the hill.

This, my sponsor said, was forgiveness.

Today's reading is from the book Easy Does It: A Book of Daily Twelve Step Meditations*